The public didn’t show up. Ten people, mostly trustees, administrators and others associated with the school, attended the two-hour event at the college’s Student Center, 3301 N. Mulford Road.

“You can call me Libby,” a cheery Burmaster told the group.

Burmaster has been president of Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wis., since 2009. Like Rock Valley, Nicolet is a two-year school that provides technical and liberal arts tracks for students.

Before that, she was elected to two terms as Wisconsin’s superintendent of public instruction, serving eight years and overseeing all public K-12 school districts. She was also a member of the Wisconsin Technical College System Board.

She has 34 years’ experience in education as a teacher in elementary and middle schools, and was principal for a decade at Madison West High School.

Burmaster said it is a critical time for higher education. Access to high-quality education is imperative.

“It’s American democracy that’s at risk here because if you don’t have an educated citizenry and there is no middle income, it’s going to be very hard to sustain a democracy,” she said. “It’s a challenge that is not unique to Rockford.”

She said the big challenge for community colleges is closing an achievement gap amid changing demographics that in Madison manifested itself as a school that could produce 35 Merit Scholarship finalists, but one-third of incoming freshmen had trouble reading.